Red Geraniums

She used second-hand water Water that had first been used to scrub vegetables or rinse the dishes And poured it over her red geraniums with loving hands Waste not, want not...was her motto In offering such hand-me-downs to her flowers They cared not For her own apron was a hand-me-down Made from a worn-out shirt,... and simply told that she had learned to cherish what life gives: even the smallest things, had value.... Her flowers seemed to know her gentle way, her tender touch... You half expected that when she turned away the flowers would leave their place to follow her, the way the kittens followed from the barn when she came up from milking the cows There may be other languages of love But these stubborn red geraniums would not die....they simply bloomed brighter